1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for developing a Web application and to a development support system. More particularly, it relates to a support technology for designing and developing a servlet, JSP (Java™ Server Pages), and JavaBeans™ component (a Bean) in a Web application system which employs the server-side Java™ technology.
2. Detailed Description of the Prior Arts
Recently, in a Web application system on the Inter- and Intranet, such a system has come into widespread use that makes use of the server-side Java™ technology. Conventional Web systems typically employ CGI (Common Gateway Interface) programs.
However, servlets are substituting for the CGI to become mainstream in the development of systems. The servlet provides the functionality similar to the CGI and is a server-side program for executing on a server for a request sent from a client (Web browser) and then sending back the resulting data to the client.
It is the most basic that the servlet is used as follows. The servlet is activated according to a request sent from a Web browser to gain access to a database, receive, and then process the resulting data. In addition, the servlet performs branched processing or calls other servlets according to the contents of the request to send back the resulting data to the Web browser. In some cases, JSP's are employed instead of the servlet. The JSP technology is a major extension to write Java™ codes into HTML file and can be combined with the servlet to be used together.
In a conventional system configured by employing the servlet, JSP, and Bean, the Bean accesses databases as well as performs business transactions, also acts to hold the resulting data. Designing and developing the Bean used to require knowledge and experience on Java™ more than the development of the JSP. In addition, in the conventional development, each component was shared on the server side to develop separately a servlet, JSP and Bean that is utilized by them. Thus, as can be seen in the waterfall development, it was necessary to clearly define the target of development in advance.
In recent system developments, the development cycle time has been increasingly made shorter. In particular, to make a business system or a business service public on the Web, customers require strongly to make the development cycle time shorter. Thus, in a Web application system, it is required not only to periodically update the design or information of Web pages but also to make a new service public as soon as possible on the system or quickly extend the service, that is, to complete development in a shorter period of time. To cope with these customer needs as well as a shorter development cycle time for Web application systems, it is necessary to alleviate the burden on developers or programmers and provide a significant speedup in the development.
Furthermore, the conventional development method allowed the servlet and JSP to perform processing according to a request and then describe a program for creating a screen in accordance with the resulting data. Accordingly, this caused the system to become larger, and made it necessary for individual developer to have wider knowledge on Java™ as the system and programming became more complicated, and collect Java™ programs for the development. The developers or programmers were further burdened with understanding the processing performed by the servlet or JSP to be developed, coding, debugging, and maintenance thereof.
When each servlet and Bean employed by the servlet were independently developed, they could not be combined together to check the overall operation until developers provided their classes. On the other hand, when the servlet and Bean are independently developed, it is impossible to achieve commonality since the developers develop a servlet, JSP, and Bean independently of one another. This made the development dependent on the skill of each developer and the maintenance difficult to be carried out.